{"id":7991133,"date":"2026-04-02T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=7991133"},"modified":"2026-04-03T13:58:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T20:58:47","slug":"washington-post-dc-media-changes-notus-atlantic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/media-platforms\/journalism\/washington-post-dc-media-changes-notus-atlantic\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Post Upheaval Redraws the DC Media Map | Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, has \u201ca lot of affection\u201d for the Washington Post, where he started his career, and believes \u201cit\u2019s important to have strong national newspapers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he added: \u201cIf the Washington Post\u2019s ownership and management is going to drive away its best journalists, I\u2019m more than happy to give them a home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goldberg spoke to TheWrap as the Atlantic poached four reporters from the Washington Post, including Matt Viser, the paper\u2019s White House bureau chief, and as NOTUS \u2014 a site launched by Politico co-founder and former owner Robert Allbritton \u2014 added at least a half-dozen Post alums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allbritton has \u201cmoney, drive, desire and experience,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cIf I were the Washington Post, I\u2019d really watch out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Post slashed its newsroom<\/a> in February, resulting in more than 300 journalists exiting, local and national competitors have hired recently laid-off reporters and editors, as well as others who survived the newsroom culling but are looking to leave. Reverberations from the Post\u2019s upheaval can be felt at national publications, like the New York Times<\/a>, local sites such as City Cast and the Baltimore Banner<\/a>, and the sports obsessed Athletic<\/a> and ESPN<\/a> \u2014 which have together added a dozen Post alums. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Jeff\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tHow Jeff Bezos Went from Washington Post Savior to Executioner | Analysis<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Washington talent scramble is playing out amid a relentless news cycle, with President Donald Trump conducting a war abroad and waging political and legal battles at home \u2014 including against the media itself. Journalists have been flexing their unusual access to the president, dialing him directly on Iran. But whereas Trump\u2019s first term felt like endless jockeying between the Times and Post for scoops, the second has provided opportunities for a broad array of outlets \u2014 big and small \u2014 as well as independent journalists<\/a> to command attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One publication looking to capitalize in the second term is NOTUS, whose founder Allbritton saw an \u201copportunity\u201d<\/a> to expand in response to the Post\u2019s retrenchment. He and Editor-in-Chief Tim Grieve \u2014 another Politico alum \u2014 have their sights set on their old stomping grounds, recently hiring defense reporter Joe Gould and national political reporter Elena Schneider, who expressed<\/a> her excitement Monday to join \u201ca newsroom with a clear, exciting vision.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poaching comes as Politico on Sunday named Jonathan Greenberger as its new editor-in-chief, succeeding co-founder John Harris. Greenberger told staff in a memo that Politico \u201cwill invest \u2014 significantly, and immediately \u2014 in our world-class journalistic talent,\u201d and reiterated that push in a Tuesday town hall, urging staff to alert him to hiring needs, according to sources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Post, even if diminished, has continued to stand out in coverage of Trump’s use of executive power, federal cuts, proposed renovations to the Kennedy Center and White House ballroom and military operations in Iran, including reporting<\/a> Monday on the Pentagon preparing for ground operations. And despite gutting its Metro desk, the Post appears to still have the biggest local news staff in the city \u2014 for now.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Jeff\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tAt Washington Post Lunch, Jeff Bezos Talks \u2018Melania\u2019 Doc, Layoffs and His \u2018Stubborn\u2019 Refusal to Sell<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

City Cast DC, one of a network of local podcasts and sites owned by Graham Family Holdings \u2014 the family that previously owned the Post \u2014 has also sensed an opportunity to move into the Post\u2019s turf, adding three reporters and editors from the paper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the Post imploded,\u201d City Cast CEO David Plotz told TheWrap, the company saw an opportunity \u201cto really serve DC and to grab a lot of the territory that the Post has abandoned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will not be the largest local newsroom yet,\u201d Plotz said. \u201cBut our goal is to become<\/em> the largest local newsroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTUS grows<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Allbritton has taken on the Post before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2006, he co-founded Politico along with then-Post journalists Harris and Jim VandeHei, who later left to launch Axios with Mike Allen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The print publication and ambitious digital play were new terrain for Allbritton, a banking and communications scion who at the time owned a number of TV stations, including local outlets WJLA-TV and NewsChannel 8. But Allbritton was following in a family tradition: His father, the late Joe Allbritton, once owned the Washington Star, a Post rival that folded in the early 1980s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
John Legend and Elena and Robert Allbritton (L-R) attend an event hosted by Politico to kick-off White House Correspondents’ weekend on April 24, 2015. (Brad Barket\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Allbritton scaled back his media holdings, selling the company\u2019s TV stations to Sinclair in 2014 for nearly $1 billion, and then offloading Politico to German media conglomerate Axel Springer for another reported $1 billion. He committed to spending $20 million in 2023 to launch the nonprofit Allbritton Journalism Institute, which aimed to produce non-partisan coverage of government and politics and train aspiring journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The institute and its news site, NOTUS \u2014 which stands for News of the United States \u2014 weren\u2019t seen as an attempt to take on Politico. Indeed, Semafor reported at the time<\/a> that Allbritton \u201cagreed to some restrictions about his own next business moves as part of the deal (primarily not turning around and starting a Politico competitor).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Bret\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tWashington Post Columnist Dana Milbank, Several Reporters Join NOTUS as It Expands in DC<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ambitions clearly grew, evident in a NOTUS memo last month to rebrand and build the \u201cnext great Washington newsroom,\u201d which would cover \u201cgovernment, politics, policy, local news and D.C. sports with the power of the Washington Post of the 1970s, the punch of Politico in the 2010s and the audience focus required to build a sustainable news organization in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTUS declined interview requests for Allbritton and Grieve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington journalists familiar with NOTUS\u2019 pitch to prospective hires boiled it down to: You\u2019ll make more money; you won\u2019t be forced to churn out copy but will instead focus on stories you really want to do; and you\u2019ll work for a local owner committed to journalism and the city, rather than a large corporate entity. (Breaker reported<\/a> Tuesday that NOTUS is also eyeing Times journalists and part of that pitch is that reporters\u2019 bylines can get lost in that stacked newsroom<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tNew York Times Newsroom Hits Record 2,300 Journalists<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Even as NOTUS employees took<\/a> to X<\/a> this week<\/a> to introduce<\/a> themselves, their beats and promote open roles<\/a>, there\u2019s still uncertainty among Washington journalists about how exactly the site will compete on government and national political stories as well as local news and sports. (\u201cIt does seem like a black box,\u201d said one journalist.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more skeptical view among journalists is that NOTUS\u2019 hiring binge echoes The Messenger, an ambitious media venture that quickly fizzled out. (Some Allbritton-backed outlets have had relatively short lives: both local Washington site TBD and the tech-focused Protocol were shuttered within three years.) Still, others see Allbritton as a capable steward, given his 15 years at Politico and his personal fortune to provide the outlet runway as its business model matures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTUS currently has around 45 staffers and hopes to grow to around 90-95. (Politico, by comparison, has around 300 newsroom staffers, according to a spokesperson.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The newsroom expansion presents a test for Allbritton to demonstrate he can build a successful media brand without Harris and VandeHei, and perhaps pick up where his father left off decades back with the Star.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Chuck\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tChuck Todd to Launch Sunday Politics Show at Noosphere<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI find myself in this really odd position,\u201d Allbritton told<\/a> Chuck Todd last week in a Noosphere interview. \u201cI\u2019m sort of mourning the loss of my old friend the Washington Post.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allbritton said he was \u201creally sad\u201d about the Post, but thought, \u201cSomebody\u2019s got to do something about this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atlantic dives in the talent pool<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Veteran media critic Jack Shafer captured<\/a> on Tuesday how much the D.C. media landscape is shifting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

A Washington Post staffer of my acquaintance says he knows more former Posties who now work at the Atlantic or the Times than he does current Posties.<\/p>— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) March 31, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>